"Hospice Subs Bring 'A' Game!"

"Hospice Subs Bring 'A' Game!"

Most know that we've been receiving help from the Ohio Health Hospice folks since late summer. What a help they have been to both Dorothy and me! As I think I've observed before in a post their addition to our caregiving team has been a great plus.

We decided to utilize their help as a result of the four near falls in one week in July. At that time we also decided that traveling very far was no longer going to be part of our normal lifestyle. Transferring between the power wheelchair and toilet and shower chair and bed with the sliding board just seemed like too big a challenge for us.

Well, by October we were reconsidering our initial reaction. Hearing other people talk about going to Florida and an improved confidence on our part utilizing the sliding board caused us to ponder whether it might be possible once more. In our view there were several factors that had to work out in order for it to be possible:

1) We knew Dorothy would need help with the driving. My sister, Nancy, agreed to accompany us on the way down, and my cousin, Corwin, and his wife, Rita, offered to share the return trip driving. (Of course, all three of them spent a week in Florida partaking of the seafood, warmth, and beauty of the southwestern Florida area and flew one way! Such sacrifices some people are willing to make to help us continue enjoying life! - Just a sarcastic tease because we really did much appreciate their help and company.)
2) The most difficult concern turned out to be trying to find a combination wheelchair/commode/shower chair that I could transfer in and out of between the power wheelchair and it had to fold to save space in the car. Despite attempts by local medical equipment companies, the ALS Association and hospice we finally had to spend more than we had hoped and had to order one ourselves online. Thankfully, the PHAALS (Playing Hardball Against ALS) organization which received its start in Putnam County (from which both of us take great pride in it being our birthplace) granted our request for help with the purchasing.
3) We knew we would again need handicapped rooms enroute and once we got to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida. We again felt we needed to go with a motel with the risk of a possible last minute change in my health. We contacted the Holiday Inn we stayed in last year (now a Wyndham Garden facility) and fortunately dealt with the manager with whom we worked last year. She visited us once a week and our room had a semi-private patio and wonderful view of the expansive beach!
4) Our final concern, and perhaps most decisive, was what about hospice? Would they object? Not a worry. Every person on the Ohio Health Hospice staff, the ALS Association staff, the Ohio Health ALS Clinic and pulmonary doctor, and our families and friends all encouraged us to go. So, then the issue was making contact with the Ft. Myers Beach area hospice program which was Hope Hospice.

So, I have finally arrived to the place in the post which was the primary motivation for it. New faces. New members of our caregiving team. They were hardly subs! They certainly didn't perform their service/ministry tasks any less professionally or authentically. I used the term "sub" in the title of this post simply as an attention getter!

Oh, how I appreciated those three showers each week by the aide, Anita! I cannot compliment the work of aides enough, folks. And there was the comforting initial visit by the Hope doc, Dr. Atlas, and her prompt attention to a new physical development; the weekly visits by the nurse, Mary, paying particular attention to ongoing medication use and the checking of vitals; weekly visits by a massage therapist, Judy, allowing my muscles to move in ways I can't make them anymore and bringing much needed pain relief; the conscientiousness, affirmation, and encouragement of their social worker, Denise; and the new and unique release/reflection the two visits by Hope's music therapist, Melissa (more about this experience in a feature post, provided.

Hope Hospice - new friends, new members of the Bill's Backers team - truly did bring their "A" game. They brought it! And we are most appreciative!